While my fellow 'Nuggies were partying with Tostitos products and moving out of Doug Martin's path, I was way east and a little south in Champaign for the BSU basketball game. And although the Broncos lost 84-77, they showed that blue collar BSU football attitude in their quest to beat a soon to be top 25 team.

                                                                                 A Few Good Things I Witnessed

• Anthony Thomas is a gamer- Whenever the Broncos were in a slump, A.T. got the job done
• Robert Arnold can play- He was a big bright spot in the first half when the Broncos only trailed by 4.

• The team can break- Fastbreak points kept the Broncos in it all night, good defense by La'Shard Anderson and Arnold really boosted the Broncos.

                                                                               The Bad

• Too many turnovers. The Broncos came close a few times, but the team needs to take better care of the rock.
• Bad Passing. The Broncos had a couple 3 v. 1 breaks and couldn't capitalize, and 3 pt shooters were wide open until a low pass stopped the rythem.
• Paul Noonan's confidence- missed one 3 and refused to shot the rest of the night- It's hard to knock off a good team when your best 3 pt shooter wont let some go.
• Perimeter D- The Illini have good shooters( D.J. Richardson is not human) and the Broncos failed to show effort in guarding shooters

                                                                    One thing to take away from this game

1. The Broncos showed they can hang with a top 25 team, now they need to show that in WAC play to gain a NCAA tourney spot

A few stats and notes: Leaders: Pts/Reb- Okoye( 20/9 ) Asst- Arnold( 4 ) Illinois fans were nice and couldn't help but ask about the blue turf, and couldn't seem to realize why I love the Broncos, or why I was rooting for Texas. Big Ten country has it so easy.